Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication
Bottlenose dolphins’ broadband click vocalisations are well-studied in the literature concerning their echolocation function. Their potential use for communication among conspecifics has long been speculated but has yet to be conclusively established. In this study, we first categorised dolphins’ cl...
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2025-06-01
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| Series: | Algorithms |
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| author | Arthur Stepanov Hristo Zhivomirov Ivaylo Nedelchev Todor Ganchev Penka Stateva |
| author_facet | Arthur Stepanov Hristo Zhivomirov Ivaylo Nedelchev Todor Ganchev Penka Stateva |
| author_sort | Arthur Stepanov |
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| description | Bottlenose dolphins’ broadband click vocalisations are well-studied in the literature concerning their echolocation function. Their potential use for communication among conspecifics has long been speculated but has yet to be conclusively established. In this study, we first categorised dolphins’ click production based on their amplitude contour and then analysed the distribution of individual clicks and click sequences against their duration and length. The results show that the repertoire and composition of clicks and click sequences adhere to the three essential linguistic laws of efficient communication: Zipf’s rank–frequency law, the law of brevity, and the Menzerath–Altmann law. Conforming to the rank–frequency law suggests that clicks may form a linguistic code subject to selective pressures for unification, on the one hand, and diversification, on the other. Conforming to the other two laws also implies that dolphins use clicks according to the compression criterion or minimisation of code length without losing information. Such conformity of dolphin clicks might indicate that these linguistic laws are more general, which produces an exciting research perspective on animal communication. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2cbcb580b13a47219ed51ff88dd45bd3 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1999-4893 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Algorithms |
| spelling | doaj-art-2cbcb580b13a47219ed51ff88dd45bd32025-08-20T03:13:38ZengMDPI AGAlgorithms1999-48932025-06-0118739210.3390/a18070392Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient CommunicationArthur Stepanov0Hristo Zhivomirov1Ivaylo Nedelchev2Todor Ganchev3Penka Stateva4Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, SloveniaDepartment of Theory of Electrical Engineering and Measurements, Technical University of Varna, 9010 Varna, BulgariaDepartment of Theory of Electrical Engineering and Measurements, Technical University of Varna, 9010 Varna, BulgariaArtificial Intelligence Laboratory, Technical University of Varna, 9010 Varna, BulgariaCenter for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, SloveniaBottlenose dolphins’ broadband click vocalisations are well-studied in the literature concerning their echolocation function. Their potential use for communication among conspecifics has long been speculated but has yet to be conclusively established. In this study, we first categorised dolphins’ click production based on their amplitude contour and then analysed the distribution of individual clicks and click sequences against their duration and length. The results show that the repertoire and composition of clicks and click sequences adhere to the three essential linguistic laws of efficient communication: Zipf’s rank–frequency law, the law of brevity, and the Menzerath–Altmann law. Conforming to the rank–frequency law suggests that clicks may form a linguistic code subject to selective pressures for unification, on the one hand, and diversification, on the other. Conforming to the other two laws also implies that dolphins use clicks according to the compression criterion or minimisation of code length without losing information. Such conformity of dolphin clicks might indicate that these linguistic laws are more general, which produces an exciting research perspective on animal communication.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4893/18/7/392linguistic lawsanimal communicationZipf–Mandelbrot’s rank–frequency lawZipf’s law of abbreviationMenzerath–Altmann’s law<i>Tursiops truncatus</i> |
| spellingShingle | Arthur Stepanov Hristo Zhivomirov Ivaylo Nedelchev Todor Ganchev Penka Stateva Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication Algorithms linguistic laws animal communication Zipf–Mandelbrot’s rank–frequency law Zipf’s law of abbreviation Menzerath–Altmann’s law <i>Tursiops truncatus</i> |
| title | Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication |
| title_full | Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication |
| title_fullStr | Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication |
| title_short | Bottlenose Dolphins’ Clicks Comply with Three Laws of Efficient Communication |
| title_sort | bottlenose dolphins clicks comply with three laws of efficient communication |
| topic | linguistic laws animal communication Zipf–Mandelbrot’s rank–frequency law Zipf’s law of abbreviation Menzerath–Altmann’s law <i>Tursiops truncatus</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4893/18/7/392 |
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